5 Must Do Things After Plugging In Your New Router?

By Expert Author: Brook M. Perry

Router is a very critical hardware component of your home or office Internet network structure therefore it is very important to ensure the router protection. After plugging in your new router, it is very important to perform the right tweaking and configuration in order to avoid network trouble in future. If you end up having improper configuration for your Wi-Fi router, then you will have poor security which will make your network vulnerable to malicious users.

To secure the due functioning and security of a new router, it is very important that you must do the following five things. It is meant to enhance your router protection in order to keep your network connection secured from intruders.

Update the Firmware

A router always comes integrated with a firmware, which is a set of operating instructions and tools. The firmware is placed within the device, stored in a memory chip. When you plug a new router, immediately check for its updates online. Updates for firmware don’t come too often as these are designed to be stable still you should always look for the updates whenever you start using a new router. There are two reasons for doing so:

Firstly, because you don’t know when your router got launched in the market and how many updates might have been released since its launch.
Secondly, even in router firmware exploits and vulnerabilities do get crop up, it is important to use the most up-to-date features of the router.

Change the Default Login

Keeping your Wi-Fi router password protected is very important because this can also be used as a channel to attack your network structure by intruders. Usually, routers come with default login and password but these passwords are in no way strong enough to keep your router protected. If one gets to know your maker/model number for your router then through a simple Google search for “Default login for routers” your default login passwords can be traced out. Hence, the moment you activate your router don’t forget to change its default log-in ID and password to make your incoming and outgoing traffic (information) protected from the hackers.

Change the SSID

As mentioned in the earlier paragraph it is very important to protect your router’s maker/model number. The SSID can reveal your make/model of your router and then it will become very easy to fetch your default login password. If you change your default login password but keep your SSID unchanged then also using your SSID, hackers will be able to steal information about your router number and check for vulnerabilities. The ideal way is to change your SSID by making it very different from the default without giving any identifying information on it, for instance don’t name your SSID as “Apartment7a.”

Set a strong Wi-Fi Password with Quality Encryption

There was a time when the routers available in the market had poorly configured Wi-Fi and default passwords with week or no encryption. Although, these days many manufacturers have finally started providing routers with randomized password secured by highly safe Wi-Fi encryption, yet it’s your responsibility to keep the check. Make sure that your router has a properly configured Wi-Fi, which has been protected by a secure password enabled with the best encryption. For encryptions you have options available like WEP, WPA, and WPA2.

When it comes to password, if you are using encryption like WPA2, you can have password of 63 characters strength. So you can make really strong password which will keep your Wi-Fi network more protected.

Disable Remote Access

Keeping the remote access tools of your router turned on can make your home /office network more vulnerable. So, it is always recommended to keep the remote access disabled. The router functions as the management brain of your home network and the firewall, and by keeping your remote access active, you are in a way giving the malicious users access to your firewall. Once they get access to firewall, they can get complete access of your home network as well. Nowadays, manufacturers have started keeping the remote access management features disabled in the routers, but yet it is strongly recommended that you must verify yourself. To confirm that remote access tools are turned off, simply go to the advanced settings of your router and check.

So just 10 minutes of effort and you can make your router radically more secure. So, whenever you get a new router, remember to update your firmware, change default logins for Wi-Fi and router and disable the remote access.

About the Author: Hi! I am Brook M. Perry, a pro lific blog writer and keen author of articles related to pc security supportand solution for issues related to computers and mobile devices. Being associated with the reputed computer virus removal service provider Qresolve, I have resolved thousands of tech issues for our customers from worldwide. online computer support.My areas of interest are virus removal, PC security, endpoint security system, router support etc. You can follow me for my useful computer support articles on Ezine and other article-oriented websites.